Indeed, judging from a new batch of photos that made it to the Internet, he is not unlike Narcissus of Greek mythology. The pictures show a near-naked Mr. Weiner clutching himself suggestively, enchanted by his own reflection as he stands before a full-length mirror in the House of Representatives gym.

Another thing we have learned is that many of our political leaders in Washington seem incapable of keeping two unrelated ideas in their heads at the same time. In a rare display of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans alike bemoan how the sordid Weiner business is threatening their ability to concentrate on matters of greater weight.

Everybody seems to be distracted by the Weiner affair.

“An unacceptable distraction,” said Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, a leading Republican, described it as “a ridiculous distraction.”

Gee, Mr. Weiner is caught sexting women and taking self-adoring pictures, and suddenly 435 representatives can no longer focus long enough to deal with the national debt ceiling or Medicare. Who knew they were so lacking in mental agility?

Even President Obama is distracted. His press secretary, Jay Carney, said so on Monday. The president himself spoke up, too, pretty much pointing Mr. Weiner toward the door. “I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign,” Mr. Obama said in an interview broadcast Tuesday morning on NBC’s “Today” show.

Before that interview, Mr. Carney told reporters that “the president feels, we feel in the White House, that this is a distraction, obviously.”

Ah, but at least “the president is focused on his job,” he said. That was reassuring. It’s one thing for Congress to be sidetracked. How unsettling would it be to have the president unable to devote full attention to the country’s economic crisis and its two wars — two and a half, if you count Libya? And all because of one man’s creepy misadventures on Twitter and Facebook.

As the demands pile up for the disgraced Mr. Weiner to resign from office, Mr. Obama’s remarks on “Today” may amount to an irresistible shove out the door. If the congressman tries to tough it out, he may find it impossible to represent his Brooklyn-Queens district effectively ever again. His fellow Democrats could make life uncomfortable for him with actions like stripping him of committee assignments.

Let’s be mindful of the politics behind all the moralizing and hand-wringing over this “distraction.” Democrats, ever a frightened bunch, don’t want to risk being labeled the party that is soft on sexual impropriety. And Republicans, ever a righteous bunch, want to cast themselves as the party of lofty standards.

Somehow, those standards haven’t always flown so high with sex scandals in their own ranks. Republican leaders didn’t demand the immediate resignation of Representative Vito J. Fossella of Staten Island, one of their own, after police officers in Virginia stopped him in 2008 for drunken driving — while the married congressman was racing, it turned out, to the mistress with whom he had a child. Mr. Fossella was allowed to complete his term.

Then again, if Mr. Weiner doesn’t resign, Congressional life could become ever more miserable for him. The staff of the House ethics committee is reported to have begun a preliminary inquiry, including into the question of whether he used government resources to send his lewd messages and photos.

For what it’s worth, things ended quite badly for Narcissus in Greek lore. He was unable to turn away from his own reflection, and died. Politically speaking, Mr. Weiner may have done the same thing to himself.

A Brooklyn man was removed from a flight to Newark after, the authorities said, uttering a curse while speaking to another passenger. (Warning: harsh language.) [Village Voice]

The Red Hook Initiative conducted a study of trash cans in Red Hook and found that the receptacles were more numerous in gentrified areas, leaving less-developed parts of the neighborhood often strewn with garbage. [Gowanus Lounge]

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